Apple Cider Caramels

Mmm… the best part about fall is all the fall dessert flavors. Apple, caramel, pumpkin, maple, ginger etc. Who doesn’t love desserts with any of those flavors?!

Today we will be making apple cider caramel candies. I absolutely love the flavors in this one because it’s a little tangy, salty, AND sweet- please try not to drool.

You definitely need a candy thermometer for this one, but as long as you have one I swear it’s super easy. If you plan on buying a candy thermometer, you can find ones that are inexpensive online. I recommend getting a mercury one because I do feel like they are more reliable (than the cheap digital ones).

Ingredients you will need:

2c apple cider

1/2c heavy cream

1c sugar

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2c light corn syrup

sea salt (optional)

cinnamon (optional)

Start by reducing the apple cider in a medium saucepan on high heat (make sure the pot is at least 2 quarts for this size recipe, because the caramel will bubble up). You want to reduce it to 1/2c, which is when I noticed the liquid was starting to look very syrupy, and had a lot of little bubbles.

While we wait for the apple cider to reduce, let’s set up the pan. Line a 8×8 baking pan with parchment with slight overhang, and spray with oil.

Once you have 1/2c of apple cider, add the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, and butter into the pot.

Put it back on medium high heat until the butter and sugar is melted and combined, then no more stirring! There could be burnt bits at the bottom of the pan that you don’t want in your caramel.

Now we wait until the mixture comes to 248° F. Please don’t walk away at this point, because if this goes past 248° it will be too hard to eat.

As soon as it reaches temperature, take it off the heat and pour into your pan.

Sprinkle flaky sea salt (table salt not recommended) all over the top. I also sprinkled cinnamon in the corner just to try it, and mmm it turned out delicious. You can leave this one the counter to cool down to room temp. If you’re impatient like me, then you can pop it in the fridge for about 20 min.

While we’re waiting for the caramel to cool, we need to cut either paper or cellophane to wrap the candies in. I personally like to use cellophane because it doesn’t rip and it’s a bit more flexible. I didn’t have the precut candy wrappers, so I cut up some bags I had. If you don’t have cellophane, you can use wax or parchment paper also. Just cut into squares big enough to wrap the caramels with.

Now cutting the caramels is a bit of work. You want to make sure that they’re not still warm, or they will be too sticky to work with. I found that using a pizza cutter works great. If you don’t have one, scissors work well also.

There you have it! Friends and family absolutely love receive HOMEMADE caramels, so pass them out or eat them all yourself (I won’t judge).